Making the points about yourself is a massive one, and is something I’ve fallen foul of myself. It’s very easy to talk about things in the context of a team, but the interview is about YOU.
Thankfully it’s an easy thing to address, although it takes a bit of a mindset shift to talk in that way.
Stefan is a rockstar! My first mock interview was with him at Hellointerview.com
I got raw feedback that felt harsh at the time because I was very far from the best interviewer version of myself.
Everything above I applied and succeeded in multiple loops. Even though my skills and experience were the right ones for the roles I interviewed, I had little chance of passing without paying close attention to these details.
You definitely have the skills, but more importantly you have the humility to genuinely seek feedback and the grit to put in the work to apply it. Leaders like you are unstoppable Jasan, and a joy to work with/for. Glad we had a chance to meet!
Really great advice here. I hope many job seekers can make use of it. One question: what you said about not using "we" and "team" makes a lot of sense for most of the interview because yes, you've got to sell yourself and highlight whatever seniority you have, but what if the hiring manager is looking for someone who is humble and will be a great team accelerator and an inspiration to their coworkers? How would you evision projecting those qualities without underselling one's individual achievements?
There's a subtle distinction between being specific and hogging credit. Let me give 3 examples to try to illustrate:
1. Non-Specific
"We were working on migrating the legacy application. There were a lot of problems, the system was hard to use, it was in a language we weren't familiar with, and nobody know how it connected to the new system. I felt so proud when we eventually solved it and saved the company $1M."
Problem: Interviewer doesn't know your contribution and has to make assumptions!
2. Specific, credit-seeking
"I migrated the legacy application. I did most of the work in my team of 5 and took on the hardest parts. It wasn't clear to me how to connect with the new system, but I figured it out. My VP told me I saved the company $1M."
Problem: Amazing contribution but you come off as a credit hoarder. I'm worried you won't make a good teammate.
3. Specific, credit-sharing
"My team was taking on a project to migrate a legacy system. I tech lead the project and started by breaking it down into 5 parts. I took one of the most complex pieces, the Frazulator. I worked closely with a junior team member on the Bobotron, helping them design their module and building test harnesses for our integration. Two other senior engineers helped with the project and I led our weekly meetings. The project was a massive success and we were able to save $1m."
Pro: You're a leader and a mentor, you're clear about how you help others but I also know what role you played.
Making the points about yourself is a massive one, and is something I’ve fallen foul of myself. It’s very easy to talk about things in the context of a team, but the interview is about YOU.
Thankfully it’s an easy thing to address, although it takes a bit of a mindset shift to talk in that way.
Stefan is a rockstar! My first mock interview was with him at Hellointerview.com
I got raw feedback that felt harsh at the time because I was very far from the best interviewer version of myself.
Everything above I applied and succeeded in multiple loops. Even though my skills and experience were the right ones for the roles I interviewed, I had little chance of passing without paying close attention to these details.
You definitely have the skills, but more importantly you have the humility to genuinely seek feedback and the grit to put in the work to apply it. Leaders like you are unstoppable Jasan, and a joy to work with/for. Glad we had a chance to meet!
Really great advice here. I hope many job seekers can make use of it. One question: what you said about not using "we" and "team" makes a lot of sense for most of the interview because yes, you've got to sell yourself and highlight whatever seniority you have, but what if the hiring manager is looking for someone who is humble and will be a great team accelerator and an inspiration to their coworkers? How would you evision projecting those qualities without underselling one's individual achievements?
There's a subtle distinction between being specific and hogging credit. Let me give 3 examples to try to illustrate:
1. Non-Specific
"We were working on migrating the legacy application. There were a lot of problems, the system was hard to use, it was in a language we weren't familiar with, and nobody know how it connected to the new system. I felt so proud when we eventually solved it and saved the company $1M."
Problem: Interviewer doesn't know your contribution and has to make assumptions!
2. Specific, credit-seeking
"I migrated the legacy application. I did most of the work in my team of 5 and took on the hardest parts. It wasn't clear to me how to connect with the new system, but I figured it out. My VP told me I saved the company $1M."
Problem: Amazing contribution but you come off as a credit hoarder. I'm worried you won't make a good teammate.
3. Specific, credit-sharing
"My team was taking on a project to migrate a legacy system. I tech lead the project and started by breaking it down into 5 parts. I took one of the most complex pieces, the Frazulator. I worked closely with a junior team member on the Bobotron, helping them design their module and building test harnesses for our integration. Two other senior engineers helped with the project and I led our weekly meetings. The project was a massive success and we were able to save $1m."
Pro: You're a leader and a mentor, you're clear about how you help others but I also know what role you played.